Automatic vehicle-brake.



Patented S'ept. 24, 190|'.

L. HQ mcKLEs. AUTDMATIC VEHICLE BRAKE.

[Application led Apr, 22 1901.)

(No Model.)

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS H. RICKLES, OF BUFORD, ALABAMA.

AUTOMATIC VEHICLE-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATON forming part of Letters Patent o. 683,145, dated September 24, 1901. Application filed April 22, 1901. Serial. No. 56,949. (No model.)

T0 LZZ whom it' may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS H. RICKLES, a citizen of the United States, residing at'Buford, in the county of Etowah and State of labama, haveinventeda new and useful Automatic Vehicle-Brake, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in automatic vehicle-brakes.

The object of the present invent-ion is to improve the construction of automatic vehicle-brakes and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient one designed to be mounted on the front portion of a running-gear and capable of clamping the front wheels in advance and in rear of the same and adapted to be readily locked out of operat-ion to permit a vehicle to be backed.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure -1 is a perspective view of a portion of a running-gear provided with an automatic vehicle-brake constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a det-ail sectional view illustrating the manner of mounting the tongue and showing the locking device for holding the brake out of operation. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view il1ustrating the manner of mounting the rear brake-bar.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates a tongue slidingly mounted between the front ends of front hounds 2 and provided with a horizontally-disposed longitudinal slot 3, receiving a transverse fastening device 4, which passes through the front hounds and the tongue, as clearly illustrated in dotted linesin Fig. 2 of the drawings. The tongue is also supported by transverse rods 5, located at'the upper faces of the hounds in advance and in rear of the transverse fastening device 4 and extending across the space between the hounds and secured to the latter, preferably by having their terminals bent downward and embedded in the same. The ends of the rods may be threaded for the reception of nuts or any other suitable means 4 may be employed for securing them to the front hounds. A

Secured to the rear end of vthe tongue is a transverse brake-bar 6, provided at its ends with suitable brake-shoes 7, arranged to engage the front wheels 8 in advance of the same and adapted to be carried into and out of such engagement by the longitudinal movement of the tongue between the front ends of the hounds. When the ,runninggear moves forward on the team by reason of the vehicle descending an incline, the front brake-bar will be carried rearward and its shoes 7 will engage the frontwheels. As soon as the team exerts a forward pull on the pole or tongue the brake-shoes will be carried out of engagement with the front wheels. The front brake-bar 6 is secured to the tongue or pole by a central fastening device 9, and it is connected at opposite sides of the same by short links lOwith levers 11, fulcrurned between their ends on the front hounds by means of pivots 12. The inner ends of the levers 11 are loosely arranged within and are supported by a loop or keeper 13, arranged at the upper face of the tongue or pole, at the rear end thereof. The outer ends of the short levers 11 are connected by rods 14 with a rear brake-bar 15, located in rear of the front wheels and supported by suitable guides 16. The rear brake-bar is provided at its ends with suitable brake-shoes 17, and the guides 16, which depend from the rear portions of the front hounds, permit the necessary movement of the brake-bar. The rods 14, which are located at the sides of the front hounds, extend between the front axle and the bolster 18, and when the tongue or pole moves rearward to carry the brake-shoes 7 of the front brake-bar into engagement with the wheels the levers 11 will draw the rear brakebar forward and carry the rear brake-shoes into engagement with the front wheels. By this construction the front wheels are firmly clamped between the front and rear brakeshoes and an effective brake is produced. The pivots l2 of the levers 11 may be dispensed with and the loop or keeper 13 may form means for engaging the inner ends of the levers 11. When the .pivots 12 are removed, the central fastening device 9 of the IOO and 12, which preferably consist of bolts, are

removable to permitA the brake to operate in either way.

It will be seen that the brake is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it may be readily applied to a vehicle, and

that when the vehicle moves forward ou the draft-animals in descending a grade the brake will be automatically applied and will check such forward movement. It will also be apparent that the brake is under the control of the draft-animals and may be instantly applied by backing them.

When it is desired to back the vehicle, the brake is locked out of operation by a pivoted block 20, hinged at its front end to the tongue or pole and adapted to engage the front transverse rod to prevent the tongue from moving backward between the front hounds. The

hinged block is arranged Within easy reach and may be readily engaged with and disen gaged from the front transverse rod.

WVhat I claim isn The combination of the front axle, the front hounds, the tongue having a limited movement between the front hounds and provided at its rear end with a loop, the front brakebar provided with the removable fastening device 9 engaging the tongue, the rear brakebar, the levers 1l having their inner ends loosely arranged in the loop of the tongue and provided between their ends with removable pivots engaging the front hounds and fulcruming the levers thereon, and the links 10 and 14C extending from the inner and outer arms of the levers and connecting the same with the front and rear brake-bars, the said fastening device 9 and pivots 12 `being adapt4 ed to be removed to detach the front brakebar from the tongue and the levers from the front hounds to change the fulerum of the levers, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed'my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS II. RICKLES \Vitnesses:

R. G. HEWITT, LEE ALEXANDER. 

